ILH executive secretary in intensive care unit

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff

Clay Benham, executive secretary of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu since 1970, was near death last night in the intensive care unit of The Queen's Medical Center.

Benham, 81, was admitted early Friday afternoon with a brain abscess.

Benham's background in Hawai'i sports spans eight decades. He was an athlete, coach and athletic director at the Kamehameha Schools, and has been administrator of O'ahu's 24-member private-high school league for 33 years.

He was chosen to be top administrator of the ILH when the private schools split from Honolulu's public schools and formed their own league in 1970.

Benham was an outstanding athlete in football, baseball and tennis at Kamehameha and graduated in 1937. He worked for the Honolulu Police Department for almost 10 years and enrolled at the University of Denver in 1949.

He was head football coach at Kamehameha from 1954-57 and was supervisor of physical education and athletics from 1958-73.

Benham has been well-known in Hawai'i tennis circles for more than 60 years and won numerous local championships.